Chapter 7: Demolition

The extensive use of steam engines in the development of Sanya was not limited to the transmigrators’ two standard models, the Mozi I and Mozi II. It also included the “Suichao I,” a lightweight machine reverse-engineered from a small American steam engine. These machines were widely used as prime movers in various applications, greatly saving manpower and increasing work efficiency. Comparing this to the state of affairs on D-Day, the elders couldn’t help but feel that while their overall technological level had declined, the scale of its application had increased severalfold.

One consequence of the widespread use of steam engines was a surge in the demand for coal. The Navy soon had to specifically assign three transport ships just for coal transport.

The best steam coal was naturally the anthracite from Hon Gai, but the supply was intermittent. Lin’gao primarily supplied low-quality lignite and peat from the Nanbao area, with some lignite also being shipped from Guangdong. The demand for coal from the Sanya development caused Lin’gao’s coal reserves to plummet. Zhan Wuya had to issue a warning: even if they stopped producing agricultural fertilizer and diverted all lignite and peat to power and chemical use, the inventory would not last a week.

The coking lignite from the hard-won Jiazi coal mine was something everyone was reluctant to burn—they had painstakingly accumulated this small amount. Coking coal was a very scarce resource in the south.

The Ministry of Commerce issued a notice, asking all overseas stations to step up coal imports. Internally, the calls to develop the Hon Gai coal mine grew louder again. People constantly petitioned the Planning Committee, stressing the importance and significance of developing Hon Gai. Many members of the Senate Standing Committee also held this view. At the State Council meetings, many professionals from the Industrial and Energy Committee also expressed concern about the coal supply situation, demanding a stable and reliable source of coal.

“Developing Hon Gai is indeed necessary,” Wu De said, “but opening another branch base in the short term is beyond our current capabilities. The defense pressure at the Hon Gai coal mine is even greater than at Sanya. It’s tantamount to establishing an armed enclave under the nose of the Northern Dynasty. It’s impossible without stationing a large force and a sufficiently strong naval detachment.”

“According to the reports from Bei Kai and others, isn’t Hon Gai a deserted area? Would the Northern Dynasty go to war over such a small place?”

“It’s hard to say,” Yu E’shui said, summoned to advise the meeting. “Gentlemen, do you know how Vietnam gradually transformed from a commandery of the Han Dynasty into a minor hegemon in Southeast Asia?” He cleared his throat. “It’s a case of ‘what’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is still mine.’ The successive chieftains of Vietnam have spared no effort in annexing surrounding lands, while maintaining high vigilance against others’ encroachments. Moreover, Vietnam is not a large country, and news travels much faster there than in the Great Ming. As soon as we build a fort there, the Northern Dynasty’s court will know about it in no time. And once they know, they will definitely attack.”

“Could we collude with the Southern Dynasty? Since we’re going to fall out with the Northern Dynasty anyway.”

“Of course we can. The Southern Dynasty would certainly welcome us drawing fire and depleting the Northern Dynasty’s strength. The question is,” Yu E’shui said, “what would we gain from the Southern Dynasty’s support?”

“The Southern Dynasty is unlikely to send troops to support our actions, and even if they did, we might not want to use them, right?”

“The monkeys’ army is a piece of…” Dongmen Chuiyu had just begun his comment when Yu E’shui interrupted him:

“Let’s not underestimate the armies of the Vietnamese Northern and Southern Dynasties in the late Ming period. They were equipped and trained under the guidance of the Portuguese and the Dutch, widely armed with firearms, and quite Europeanized. They are definitely not the semi-savage armies of other Southeast Asian states. And with decades of continuous civil war, their combat effectiveness would not be poor. We would have no problem defending our fortress, but to effectively control and mine the area, it would be impossible without a significant investment of force.”

“In that case, we can only take a peaceful approach,” Wu De said. “I suggest we send people to Vietnam, first purchase the land through commercial channels, and set up a manor to slowly start mining. If possible, it would be best to use a local agent.”

In the end, it was decided that the Leizhou station would handle this matter. They already had some commercial and social connections there. The proposal from the Leizhou station to establish a trading company for Vietnam was also approved at the State Council meeting. Vietnam had not only coal but also large quantities of rice and timber, which were the most needed resources for the transmigrator group, even considered strategic materials.

Everyone had long coveted the treasure trove that was Vietnam, but they were unable to act directly due to their limited strength. This feeling of suppressed desire was like having a beautiful, voluptuous woman nearby. You could flirt a little now and then, but you couldn’t possess her.

Pan Da, with a large pack on his back, sped across the wilderness on his off-road motorcycle. A full set of professional-grade bomb disposal suit, imported from the United States, was strapped to the back seat. Although he had spent a fortune on this gear, he himself felt it was of little value. As his former colleagues used to say, its only purpose was to leave a complete corpse.

The development of Sanya required a large amount of blasting work. Although Zhuo Tianmin was the general commander of construction, he was from a civil engineering background and knew next to nothing about demolition. So, Pan Da was appointed as the deputy general commander, specifically in charge of blasting and military engineering construction.

The personnel available to Pan Da mainly came from the Sanya Expeditionary Battalion’s sapper platoon. This platoon was formed by personnel drawn from the sapper training company. One-third were veterans who had received more than six months of professional sapper training, while the rest were new recruits who had undergone a one-month crash course in demolition skills.

In addition, there were graduates from the demolition training class held for the labor corps. At the time, some laborers had been given a short, intensive training. But the quality of these demolition workers could not be compared to that of the sappers. For safety reasons, Pan Da mixed the personnel after the landing. A few sappers were paired with demolition workers to form demolition teams. A total of five demolition teams were formed. Two of them were dispatched to the Lu Huitou Peninsula. Their task was to cut roads into the mountain, clear vegetation, and create a stable platform for the battery at the summit. The rocks produced from the blasting served as building materials.

Considering the need for a local supply of building materials, Zhuo Tianmin and Pan Da had discussed that, besides setting up a local brick and tile factory, it would be best to have a quarry. To this end, Bai Guoshi led a team, escorted by the special reconnaissance team, to survey the vicinity. The quarry couldn’t be too far away, as that would strain their transportation capacity and defeat the purpose.

However, this meant that maintaining the quarry would occupy at least one demolition team, leaving him with only two teams. The demand for blasting on the construction sites was increasing, especially for the Yulin-Tiandu roadbed project. Although the roadbed was planned along the relatively flat river valley of the Tiandu River, the terrain was still quite complex. They frequently encountered hills and large boulders that had to be cleared in a timely manner.

If cleared manually, the amount of earthwork would be astonishing. Everyone was aware of the steel department’s desperate need for iron ore. Now that the source of coking coal was secured and the stockpile was growing, they were just waiting for the ore to start mass-producing steel.

Forced by the circumstances, Pan Da had to dilute his personnel, reducing the number of men and the proportion of sappers in each team to double the number of demolition teams. This, however, raised safety concerns. Pan Da would ride his motorcycle or take a transport boat, patrolling and inspecting the various blasting sites, promptly correcting any safety hazards. If necessary, he would command the blasting himself.

The sea breeze, mixed with sand, pelted his motorcycle helmet. He felt a knot of tension in his stomach. The recent extensive use of blasting to speed up infrastructure construction, coupled with the low proportion of qualified personnel, had greatly increased the risk of accidents. In fact, an explosion had occurred just a few days ago. A transport boat carrying black powder had suddenly exploded in the bay for unknown reasons. All six people on board were missing—no doubt blown to pieces.

Black powder was the only explosive they could supply in large quantities at present, but its power and stability were poor. No matter how refined, black powder’s detonation velocity was too slow, making it an ineffective engineering explosive. It was far less useful than nitroglycerin.

At his request, nitroglycerin explosives and a small amount of ammonium nitrate explosives were shipped to him from Lin’gao. The nitroglycerin was in the form of explosive blocks, relatively safe, absorbed in diatomaceous earth and passivated through a series of treatments. Although its stability was still somewhat lacking, Sanya was in urgent need of high explosives, and they couldn’t afford to be too picky.

The Navy had recruited volunteers to sail this ship. The originally seven-day voyage took almost ten days to complete. These precious cargoes were carefully unloaded and stored in a dedicated, isolated, simple warehouse.

But problems still arose. Pan Da had just received news that there was a misfire at one of the construction sites.

A misfire was the most feared incident for a demolition team. A single mishandling could be fatal. To prevent this, Pan Da personally kept the detonators, ensuring their safety, and only distributed them to the sappers at the start of each day’s work.

He never expected a misfire to happen. And it was with ammonium nitrate explosives. This explosive was slightly safer than nitroglycerin, but still very dangerous.

The blasting site was at the 0+1400 meter mark of the Tiandu-Yulin roadbed. A small hill of mixed earth and rock was right on the construction line. Shan Daoqian planned to blow it up directly, both to remove the obstacle and to obtain building materials.

“How is it?” Pan Da asked the sapper captain on site after he arrived.

“The fuse was lit, but it didn’t go off,” the sapper captain said, gesturing. “I waited 15 minutes and went to check. The fuse burned out, but the detonator didn’t explode.” He took out the rolled-up explosive charge. “I’ve dismantled it.”

Pan Da relaxed only after seeing that the detonator had been removed. The safety education wasn’t in vain after all, he thought. He looked at the explosive. It seemed a bit damp—perhaps the high humidity here had affected its sensitivity.

The use of explosives is still not standardized, Pan Da thought. Crash courses really do lead to problems. But this couldn’t be blamed entirely on the soldiers. The explosives and ignition devices provided by the transmigrator group were themselves not very standardized. Some even had significant safety hazards.

“Continue the blasting,” Pan Da said. “Don’t use this charge. Take it back.”

The demolition team continued their work. Pan Da, feeling uneasy, went to the loading site himself. The blast holes were drilled according to the textbook, very standard. Several team members were loading the charges. Below the small hill, a crowd of workers had gathered to watch. Pan Da was horrified when he saw this—what was there to see in such a thing? They were not even at a safe distance. Just as he was about to find someone to drive the laborers away, he heard a cry. Looking up, his blood nearly froze. A team member, while loading, had let a 75g standard-packaged explosive stick slip from his hand and it was falling.

It’s over! Pan Da’s first thought was that he was about to be blown to pieces. He remembered they were using ammonium nitrate explosives here. This stuff could explode on strong impact before being passivated. A charge falling from the hill would surely detonate immediately.

In an instant, all the explosion scenes from movies, television, and real life flooded Pan Da’s mind. He made a tiger leap and threw himself to the ground. Whether this move would save his life was a matter of luck—if the explosive landed close, lying on the ground wouldn’t save him.

With a “thud,” the explosive hit the ground. Pan Da was greatly surprised—it didn’t explode! Just as he raised his head, he saw the laborers rush forward and surround it. Pan Da knew that there were always meddlesome people in a crowd who liked to fiddle with things. He quickly jumped up, sprinted to the front of the crowd, picked up the explosive stick, ran a few steps, and threw it towards the Tiandu River. He then made another tiger leap, hugging the ground tightly, closing his eyes and opening his mouth.

In his military days, Pan Da had been the second-best grenade thrower in his company. In this moment of crisis, his skills were fully activated. The series of actions was clean and swift. Before the surrounding laborers could even react, the explosive had landed in the water. A flash of light exploded on the river’s surface, and a high column of water shot into the sky. The onlooking laborers were all knocked to the ground by the shockwave.

Pan Da was also thrown to the ground like a leaf. He felt a tightness in his chest and struggled to get up. He found his heart pounding wildly and his legs trembling. He thought to himself that he was lucky to have survived this time, otherwise he would have been sent to Cui Gang Cemetery ahead of schedule.

“Any casualties? Any casualties?” he shouted.

“I’m fine,” the demolition captain said, getting up shakily. Overall, the demolition team had performed well. As soon as the explosive fell, everyone had hit the dirt instead of rushing over to watch.

As for the laborers who had been knocked down, a few had scraped their skin when they fell, and some felt a tightness in their chest. Most were just terrified—they had never witnessed such a powerful explosion.

“Get back to work,” Pan Da said to the demolition captain. “You guys take a fifteen-minute break before you continue. Pay attention to safety.”

The demolition worker who had dropped the explosive was arrested by the nearby guards and came down the slope with his head hanging low.

Pan Da stopped the demolition captain who was about to send the unlucky man to the command post for punishment. “Forget it. It was a momentary lapse. But don’t let him handle explosives anymore. Let him do some manual labor for now. We’ll have a safety education meeting tonight.”